The Divine Empire of Man
The Divine Empire of Man is a world superpower, an aggressive, expansionist empire and the primary antagonist of Zul. History Founded in the year 0 AE when the Priest-King Aleric I proclaimed himself the living personification of the gods on Earth, Emperor Aleric’s first action was to expand his holdings as rapidly as possible, using the phalanx he had designed and the iron-tipped spears of his people to drive the more primitive fae and orcs back, sealing them in the wastelands with a wall that subsequent generations would expand on enormously. The first nation in the world to use iron in weaponsmithing and armour, the heavy infantry of the Divine Empire were driven on by their belief in their moral and intellectual superiority, expanding out from their heartlands in the dusty, sun-baked mountains of Cellica into the fertile, rich valleys and fens of the orcs – the regions now called Senecus, Baltos and Trinia. Using these more fertile lands as a breadbasket, the Empire had a surplus of food and the ability to grow exponentially, and under the Emperor’s son, Emperor Olsio I, the fledgling empire established trade relationships with the surrounding tribes and city-states on its other borders, as well as exacting tribute from those Fae tribes unable to raid into Orcish lands. One by one, the city-states and free tribes fell, consumed and subjugated by the growing Empire. Some fell when their religion was subverted by the Divinity of Man. Some fell when they were bought out, piecemeal, made vassals, and finally disintegrated. The vast majority fell to the sword. The rolling valleys and moors that formed their territorial backbone were ideal not only for feeding an empire with grain and cattle – they were ideal for horses, and a heavy cavalry division formed up from the sons of noble houses and merchant princes, an elite that backed the phalanxes and skirmishers excellently. The main body of the army in that ancient time were ironclad hoplites, heavy infantry with large shields, iron-tipped spears around nine feet long, and thrusting short-swords. This infantry formed the phalanx that was the primary body of the army, wearing iron scale cuirasses and cheeked helmets, and leather and bronze reinforced skirts, vambraces and shin-guards, and sandals. The cotton tunics under their armour allowed them to stay cool in the heat, and as they expanded into cooler climates, these tunics were swapped out for woollen versions, leggings, longer sleeves and boots. The phalanxes were covered by the noble heavy cavalry, and by skirmishers armed with javelins and wicker shields, and sometimes the same double-edged shortswords or long spears wielded by the hoplites. The skirmishers were loosely-organised, and operate in open-spaced formations that allowed them maximum individual manoeuvrability and opportunity to strike enemy formations. The skirmishers protected the flank of the phalanx, driving off enemy flanking manoeuvers, dissuading cavalry charges and damaging the formations of the enemy infantry as the forces came together. Once the infantry forces came together, the hoplites fought tight-packed together, each man protected by the shield of the man on his right. The large, heavy shields soaked up enemy projectiles, and the iron armour and spears destroyed the bronze and simple iron weapons of their enemies. Once the phalanx met the enemy infantry line, the skirmishers, if possible, became a flanking force of their own, hammering the enemy column with javelins, or running in close to attack with spears and gladii, before running away before the enemy could react. If chased by enemy infantry, the skirmishers had succeeded in disrupting their formations, and could rely on either directly outrunning the enemy (as they wore no armour bar, sometimes, a helmet) or being covered by the heavy cavalry, who usually swept through the charging enemy infantry from the side as they chased the skirmishers. As the Empire grew, the subjugation of more and more land meant that governors and garrisons must be deployed. This resulted in the Noble Lords seen today, as the governors whose rule pleased the Emperor remained in their seats and saw their positions become hereditary. Those who displeased the Emperor saw their grand manors given to others, and were ruined. These governors changed the way the Empire fought, since they ruled over subject peoples intermingled with Imperial settlers. The colonist lords could not hope to afford the same standard of training, equipment and professionalism as the Imperial Legion, but they could provide levies, a peasant soldier called upon in times of need and equipped, trained and commanded by their Lord. Each governor was given a number of legionaries as the backbone of his authority - and to ensure his obedience. The legionaries rotated out frequently to prevent attachment to the governor, and were usually used as police forces and household guards by the governors, and to train and reinforce the levies when necessary. Since the Emperor increasingly had the ability to call on his levies as auxiliaries to the Imperial Legions, he began to alter the legion’s fighting style to suit the new additions. The levies were armed and armoured to no set standard, and different governors often fielded wildly different sorts of levy soldier – therefore the Empire used them as flank-guards, to soak up enemy cavalry, and as environmentally-adapted specialist troops. Auxiliaries equipped or trained in a certain style – say, lightly-armoured men armed with two-handed axes – were used by canny generals to play to their strengths, supplementing the monolithic legions excellently. As time went by, the governors became Lords, and each one began to keep a retinue of Noble Sons, the knights of the Divine Empire. Descended from nobility, though not necessarily from the households of Lords themselves, these knights are the heavy cavalry of the Empire, and are most often fielded and led by the Lords whose lands contain the largest pasture, or those with the most overall wealth. One single knight is very expensive to train, feed, arm and armour, not to mention his barded war horse. In the ancient Empire, the cavalry wore the same mail armour as the infantry, or scale coats, with outer thigh guards, and the horses wore scale barding over their heads and frontquarters. Iron swords, longer than those used by the infantry, were used, and iron-headed maces that could strike down onto armoured enemies. The primary weapon, however, was a throwing spear launched at the gallop in the instants before closing. Modern Military The inclusion of levies and the evolution of a noble caste of cavalry were not the only changes seen throughout the military of the Divine Empire over the 477 years between the coronation of the Divine Emperor and the invasion of Zul’s Empire Killers. The primary changes to the way the Empire makes war in this time were; - The creation and availability of steel - The availability of peasant levies as part-time auxiliaries and context-specific soldiers - The creation of the noble class, allowing well-equipped, well-trained heavy cavalry - The development and deployment of war machinery such as ballistae and onagers - The evolution of the phalanx into the manipular legion - The adoption of the bow by Imperial skirmishers Legionaries The hoplite phalanx was upgraded, exchanging the large scales of their cuirasses for steel segmented armour, with segmented pauldrons and knee-length chain-mail skirts split down the centre. The vambraces and shin protectors remain, but have been upgraded to much lighter reinforced leather replacements. The cheeked helmets are also still in use, now made from steel, and featuring a solid nose guard. The shields are lighter, made from lighter imported wood reinforced with steel bands. The spears are now nine feet long, with socketed two-foot double-edged blades – and one notable addition. The base of the blade features a second blade, sticking out at a right angle, tapering down and sharpened on the bottom side. This knife-like blade is around a foot long, and is used to hook the spears of enemy hoplites, pull at shields, hammer down through enemy armour, pull horsemen from their mounts, and trip the enemy horses. In the tightly-packed formations, having one of these hooked spears pull away an enemy shield all but guarantees that another spearpoint will make use of the opening. The swords are now half again as long, with unfullered steel blades tapering to a chisel-like point. The blade is sharpened on the leading edge and along the back third behind the point. The longer, heavier blades are designed to hew through enemy shields and spear-shafts, and are so sturdily built that they can sometimes break enemy swords in combat. The main use of the sword is paired with the large oval shields, either darting under or around the shield in a crushing thrust that will kill or disable an enemy combatant, or swinging up over the shield to come down on the head or neck of the enemy. The weight and thickness of the sword would be likely to concuss or kill upon contact with an enemy head, even if it wasn’t sharpened. All of this new equipment, however, pales in comparison to the new organisation of the infantry. The monolithic phalanx of the ancient Empire is gone, replaced with more flexible manipular formations that can adapt to different terrain, new battlefield conditions and many enemy strategies. The maniples are blocks of men, in a similar shield-wall to the old legions, but rather than forming one interlocking block, they exist in smaller squares of several hundred men, and move around each other on the battlefield. The maniples are further divided into three units – the first, composed of the youngest men, who open most engagements; the second, experienced warriors in their mid-twenties to early thirties; and the third, the Dragon Guard; veterans from their mid-thirties to mid-forties – warriors who have been fighting with the legions for upwards of twenty or thirty years. These veterans are called upon to take the field when the enemy refuse to break, or where they seem most dangerous, and are considered the best soldiers in the world. Brass horns are used to signal complex orders to the maniples, and are the province of the commander’s lieutenant – the most common order being for the maniples to “rotate”, allowing warriors at the front lines of battle to withdraw under the cover of the other advancing soldiers. In this way, every unit in a manipular legion fights for a while and rests for twice as long, meaning the enemy are always fighting fresh men. The weight of the equipment and weaponry carried by the legionaries means these periods of rest are not only valuable – they are necessary in any prolonged engagement. Where the enemy is mobile and numerous, or on open ground, the maniples form fighting squares, with shields presented to the enemy on all sides of the square, and the resting men in the centre of the square. When in sufficient numbers, the square will even encapsulate the skirmishers and wagons, allowing the skirmishers to stand on the carts and fire over the heads of the legionaries into the enemy. On favourable ground, the legions instead form a fighting line as many as 200 men deep, presenting the enemy with an impenetrable wall of spears and shields. The maniples move to protect one another and shore up the line, covering their own flanks and allowing the skirmishers and cavalry to pry the enemy apart. Once the enemy force routes, the skirmishers and cavalry run them down and cut them to pieces. War Machines These new, heavier hoplites are now backed by war machinery, superior heavy cavalry, and more effective skirmishers. The war machines now employed by the Empire are scorpion bows, onagers, ballistae and trebuchets. The scorpion bows are roughly the size of a man, and fire stout iron bolts fletched with leather that can kill two men in a row or punch through an armoured horse. They are slow to reload and difficult to move around the battlefield, but are used to cover the legionaries as the enemy army closes, and to snipe at the enemy leadership, usually with excellent results. They have an effective range longer than that of the arrows, but shorter than that of the trebuchets and onagers. The ballistae have the lowest range, at less effective range than the archers, but they fire heavy arrows upwards of seven feet long and a foot in diameter, sometimes tipped with iron, other times simply sharpened to a rough point and trusted to their immense weight to destroy the target. Occasionally, the huge ballistae bolts are soaked in pitch and set alight in the seconds before firing. They tend not to be fletched, but sometimes have an iron band around the back of the log to counterbalance the head and keep the shaft intact even under extreme firing stress. The onagers are catapults operating under tension from heavy ropes wound from horsehair, and wound leather cables providing immense amounts of elastic potential energy. A heavy crossbar swaddled with leather stops the firing arm at a certain point in its arc, launching the projectiles from a bowl on the end of the arm. The crossbar can have its height adjusted to create steeper or shallower firing arcs, even going so high as to create a horizontal forward shot. The onagers are usually loaded with heavy stones sourced from near the battlefield, or carried behind on carts. In some instances, such as siege work or against a similarly entrenched enemy, clay pots full of oil or bundles of wood and straw soaked in pitch and set alight are fired from the catapults, incinerating the enemy. These ammo types are, of course, much more difficult to acquire and use than simple boulders, and require careful handling. Lastly, enemy weapons, shields, helmets, and even dead soldiers may be placed in the bowls and fired at an enemy army, for a powerfully demoralising effect. The final type of artillery emplacement the Divine Empire may choose to use on campaign is the counterweight trebuchet. An enormous hinged construction, the trebuchets cannot be moved without dismantling them completely, and require generous firing space to allow the huge arm to swing and the operating teams to run, dragging ropes behind them to accelerate the falling of the huge counterweight. Possessing the most enormous range of any artillery weapon currently in use, the trebuchets are able to fling a boulder or lead ball almost a kilometre away, slinging it up at a high angle so it crashes down directly onto the enemy and their fortifications. These weapons are most commonly employed in siege situations, as they take days to prepare the ground, put the weapon together, and begin operation – however, it is not unheard of for a suitably forward-thinking general to prepare his trebuchets well in advance of a battle, and hold the combat either within range of the huge weapons, or lure the enemy into their range by steadily falling back until the huge stones can come plummeting down from above. Skirmishers The skirmishers used by the Divine Empire have now evolved into mobile archers – foot soldiers very lightly equipped with a longbow, sheaves of bodkin arrows, and an old-style double-edged short sword. The mules that carry their arrows also have dozens of hatchets, mallets and spades, which are used by teams of archers to shape and plant angled stakes in the ground, fouling cavalry charges against them and allowing them to withdraw into the safety of the forest of spikes on prepared ground. This is generally only used when against a cavalry-heavy enemy on open ground, and when not backed by sufficient numbers of heavy cavalry or levies of the army’s own. On broken ground or in forested or marshy areas, it isn’t necessary, as well as when against an infantry army. Generally, the skirmishers will be deployed under cover of the cavalry out in front or to the flank of the legions, whittling away at the enemy before contact and harrying the flanks afterwards. If drawn out after them, enemy soldiers are cut to pieces by the backing cavalry or a levy charge, or the skirmishers fall back between the maniples of the legion, which close behind them to form an impenetrable wall. Generally, the skirmishers are the first to draw blood, and use chisel-tipped bodkin arrows to puncture armour and pierce deep into enemy soldiers. The arrows are designed exclusively to pierce, with only small barbs where they appear at all, and no bladed edge – they are not designed to kill enemy soldiers there and then, but rather to cripple, wound and demoralise them. A direct hit through the chest or neck can be fatal due to organ damage, but more often an enemy soldier hit by the arrows is simply disabled enough that the legionaries will kill him. The skirmishers are equipped with bladed broad-heads when fighting enemies who do not wear much armour, such as when disciplining the Fae or during their ill-fated attacks on the Belsi Empire on the other side of the Hilyani Desert. When possible, the skirmishers act as a conventional archery regiment, remaining within firing distance and attacking the enemy from range. They never close to melee willingly, but are able to use their light short swords with reasonable skill. The Noble Sons The Noble Sons cavalry regiments are usually composed of the children of noble houses, those uncles and husbands who do not help run the estates, and the households of Lords. Noble birth is not a prerequisite for inclusion in the Noble Sons, but it is almost impossible to be promoted as a commoner without the express recommendation of a noble-born superior officer. The noble sons are equipped out of their own pockets, usually, with their own horses and equipment. The exception is when a Lord raises a regiment of Noble Sons, appointing his trusted men, household guards or other men to the unit and paying for their equipment, horse and training. As the Noble Sons cavalry regiments are an official state army, they receive a salary when on campaign, although for many of the Lords this amounts to basically pocket money. Also, as they are considered to be a cut above the common soldiery, their families also receive a payment from the state and a consolation from the Emperor in the event of their deaths. At the time of Zul’s invasion, the knights are equipped with full-face helmets, plate pauldrons and skirts, and cuirasses that are particular to the house and Lord wearing them. They often sport coloured plumes in their regional or familial colour, and have their house insignia inscribed on their horse’s armour. The knight’s armours are usually faced with leather or lacquered, in muted colours. Into the leather or lacquer, patterns and insignias are cut, etched or painted, each customised to the knight in question. Lords of the Senecus, Baltos and Trinia regions Northwest of the heartlands wear armour inscribed in such a way as to tell their life story, detailing their achievements and honours, and marking their capabilities. They often pay for the Noble Sons that they have financed to have the same done for their own armour, creating a camaraderie and recognising achievement among the ranks. Lords from the Imperial City and the heartlands wear armour emphasising bloodline, lineage and breeding, detailing who their ancestors were, and essentially acting as a wearable family tree. The lords South of the heartlands favour more florid armours, and engrave the steel before painting and polishing it rather than using lacquer or leather. The polished armour shines in the searing Southern sun, and turns each knight into a dazzling, blinding opponent. The barding on the horses is now more often a strong breastplate and helmet, with a chainmail skirt protecting the animal’s ribcage, neck and forequarters. The knights no longer armour the hindquarters of their mounts. The Noble Sons, being a shock cavalry, wield long lances and shields first and foremost, couching their lances for maximum control and power at the gallop. They then resort to swords, which, unlike the infantry swords, are fullered, and are much longer to allow slashing down at infantry. When riding, the lance is kept in a vertical holster in front of the saddle, the shield carried on the knight’s back or on a hook on his horse’s armour, and his sword in a sheath at his side. Occasionally, the Noble Sons are given spiked maces or hammers to bring down on a particularly heavily-armoured enemy, giving them the armour-crumpling power they will need once the shattered lances are cast aside and the close-up killing begins. The Imperial subcontinent of Fira, separated from the rest of the Empire by the Coraline Mountain Range, was populated predominantly by black-skinned humans and more Arabic-looking Far Southerners. One hundred and seventeen years before Zul’s invasion, the Fira subcontinent seceded from the Empire after a struggle of succession in the Imperial City, establishing its own rival lineage of Divine Emperors. Their claims to be the living manifestation of the Gods on Earth lasted for only two generations before they simply settled in as conventional Emperors, with the Divine Right of Kings exercised but no more trappings of divinity itself. They now hold that a human claiming to be a god is unholy and, by its nature, a lie. This rival land is now known as the Fira Empire, and is the source of many woes for the Divine Empire of Man. Despite being at war, trade arrangements abound wherever canny merchants spring up, as both Empires can profit from the existence of the other. Geography and Demography At the time of Zul's Invasion, the Divine Empire of Man stretched from the Wall at the Wastelands, to the Arkalon River at the Northeast, leading into the Coraline Mountains in the East. It reached the Eastern and Southwestern coast, and extended down into the South-Eastern subcontinent of Fira, to two satellite islands to the East, and down to the southern Hilyani Desert. To the Southwest, the Empire stretched out alongside the Hilyani for a short while, bordering the ocean. Even with the loss of the Fira Subcontinent to the Confederacy, the Divine Empire still occupies the largest land holding in history - with an estimated area of 1,600,000 square miles and an estimated population of 57,000,000 people at the time of the Orcish Invasion. The three largest cities in the Empire - Alerica, Trinia and Kaiphon - are each more than double the size of their equivalents in other nations.The desert at the south is not impenetrable, but it is damn near so. Attempts for the enormous armies to cross the desert have been met largely with the withering indifference of the scorching sun. Those who made it across met a united empire unlike their own, of sun-hardened horse-lords skilled with the crossbow and wielding immense lances. Ruined by the weeks spent marching across the endless desert in heavy armour, they were cut to pieces, and records of the attempted crossing suppressed. The Divine Empire of Man encompasses a multitude of human phenotypes. The heartlands were originally inhabited by an olive-skinned people with curly black hair and brown eyes. As they expanded, they conquered paler tribes, introducing red and blonde hair, and darker-skinned peoples, with skin and eyes so dark they are almost black.As a result, the legions contain many as one-third black-skinned soldiers, while the dark tan of the original Imperials dominates. Languages The official language of the Divine Empire is Theus, and it is spoken heavily in Imperial provinces. It is the language of law and religion, and all official documentation for the Empire - including certificates of birth, marriage and death, taxes and legal documents - must be written in it. However, despite this emphasis on Theus uniting the different regions, it is not forced on conquered peoples as a spoken, day-to-day language. The prestige and universal utility of the language, which is a ''lingua franca ''throughout the Empire and beyond, makes it desirable for upwardly-mobile members of the populace and essential for the middle and upper classes, but peasantry often don't worry about it. Career soldiers must understand their orders in Theus, and so provincial recruits usually learn the language in this way and from their comrades, becoming fluent after a few months in the army. Provincial languages spoken in the Empire include the indigenous tongues of the Baltos, Trinia and Cellica regions, some of which can have multiple dialects within the same 20 square miles, the flowery languages of the Hilyani border cities, and the harsh native tongue of Arkalon River traders. Society Fostering a Sense of Shared Humanity Women in the Divine Empire Slavery Government The three major elements in the government of the Divine Empire of Man are the Central Government, the Military, and the Provincial Government. Military Economy Architecture and Engineering Daily Life Music, Art and Literature Religion See Also